One of the most misunderstood
days on the American calendar is Labor Day.
Labor Day is perhaps the only sarcastic holiday in the entire
world. The day traces its roots back to New York City in 1882. At that time there was a benevolent factory
owner named John Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick
had been an Irish immigrant himself, but through his own blood and sweat, he
had managed to purchase a soap factory.
It wasn't glamorous, but he made a good living for himself and for his
family with the soaps he produced.
Like a lot
of the business leaders of the 19th century, Fitzpatrick wanted to make a
profit, but he cared first and foremost for his workers. If they had a problem they not only knew they
could always come to John, they knew he'd probably come to him first. The Fitzpatrick Soap Factory was like one big
family with 60 members. The workers
enjoyed their jobs and John had loyal workers.
Then the
International Brotherhood of Soap Factory Workers came to town. At first, John's employees resisted joining
the union, but a couple of his men got greedy and before long union membership
had spread through the factory like venereal disease through a Parisian
brothel. Now, when it was time to
discuss money or working conditions, instead of seeing one of his loyal workers
sitting across the table from him, John had to deal with a suit wearing thug
from the IBSFW.
John paid his
workers 8 cents and hour, but once the union was running things, they demanded
14 cents an hour. This was more money
than John could afford. Even though he
wanted to pay his workers well, he knew this would bankrupt him. John offered to pay 10 cents an hour, which
was a 25% raise and all the money that he could afford. The IBSFW didn't care and they immediately
took the workers out on strike.
For weeks
the strike raged. The union hired thugs
and they smashed the windows on the factory and broke the lock on the front
gate. Things began to get violent and
John was worried that somebody would be badly hurt, so he conceded. He called the union and let the workers know
that he was willing to pay the 14 cents an hour they demanded.
When the
workers returned to the factory, they sheepishly looked around at all the
damage their strike had caused. They all
assembled in the factory yard, excited to return to work feeling that they had
won something that they fought for.
A very
tired John Fitzpatrick walked out to greet them all feeling every bit of his 56
years of age. The men smiled as he
approached and asked John what he wanted them to do. John was so disgusted he looked at his
expensive work forced and told them, "Oh boys, you've worked so hard with
your strike and everything. Why don't
you rest up from all your labor. You can
start working tomorrow."
To John's
surprise, the workers let out a mighty cheered and happily the men shuffled out
of the factory yard. John shook his
head and sighed. Somehow, those workers
had missed the sarcasm in his voice.
"The next thing you know, they'll be wanting a parade or
something," he said to himself.
Unfortunately,
the greedy workers had killed John Fitzpatrick' business. Within 6 months, the factory was boarded up
and the workers were out of jobs. The
one remnant of the factory was the holiday that John Fitzpatrick had created
sarcastically. Labor Day has grown to be
a national holiday and workers everywhere owe it all to one soap factory and
the sarcastic boss that created a national institution.
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